


Sweet Dreams

by karcathy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, yay cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:06:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karcathy/pseuds/karcathy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat can't sleep, but perhaps Terezi can help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a request on fanficstuck.tumblr.com

You’re not sure when you last slept properly. You can’t remember sleeping for more than a couple of hours without waking up in a cold sweat, certain that someone or something on this godforsaken meteor has come to kill you off, too. You can’t really remember what sleeping feels like. Nice, you think, and peaceful – two words that don’t have a place in your life, especially lately.

 

Instead of sleeping, then, you wander the corridors, avoiding everyone and trying to pretend you’re not tired and terrified. You’re not sure whether you’re more scared of being alone, or sick of the sight of everyone around you. Not for the first time, you wish you could be anywhere but here.

 

Eventually, you’re too tired to keep walking, so you curl up in a corner, thinking maybe you can get some sleep. You close your eyes, cutting off your view of the corridor, but you can’t shut off your mind. It keeps telling you that somewhere out there, there’s something that wants to kill you, and if you stop, it’ll find you. It tells you you can’t let your guard down for even a second. It tells you sleep is for the weak. You try to tell it that you are weak, that you don’t care, but it ignores you. You’re too tired to realise that arguing with your own subconscious isn’t exactly the smartest thing you’ve ever done, but then you do seem to have a habit of arguing with yourself.

 

You’re too caught up in your crazy, sleep-deprived thoughts to notice the footsteps coming down the hallway. You don’t realise you have company until you feel a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey, Karkat.”

You open your eyes, unfolding slightly, and look up to see Terezi leaning over you.

“What do you want?” you ask, curling back up into a ball and hiding your face in your knees.

You silently wish for her to go away. She fails to pick up on this and sits down next to you.

“No one knew where you were,” she says, “I thought you might have died or something.”

“I’m not dead. Go away.”

You curl up tighter, and try not to pass out. You’re far too tired to deal with Terezi right now.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, quietly.

You freeze for a moment, then uncurl a little, enough to look up at her.

“I’m tired,” you say, scrunching up your face, “I can’t sleep.”  
“I don’t think anyone can,” she says, reaching over and cautiously patting your head.

You close your eyes, leaning into her hand.

“I’m scared,” you say, and your voice sounds small and lost and alone.

She doesn’t say anything, just sits back and opens her arms. You pause a moment, then move over and let her hold you. She strokes your hair gently, and you find yourself relaxing for the first time since you don’t know when.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Karkat falls asleep in your arms. He smiles for the first time in ages, perhaps at a dream, and you smile too when you notice. You think that he deserves to be happy for once. You wish he’d smile more often. You wish he was less of an idiot.

 

You watch him sleep for a while, smiling to yourself at every little twitch he makes. You wonder what he’s dreaming about, and you hope it’s something good. He’s so adorable when he’s asleep, and you think you’d happily stay like this forever.

 

Eventually, you fall asleep too. When you wake up, hours later, he’s still sleeping, and hugging you as tight as he can. You shift him into a slightly more comfortable position, and he makes a squeaky noise in protest. You giggle, and he starts to open his eyes, a befuddled expression on his face.

“Hmm?” he says, looking around sleepily.

“Shh,” you say, patting his hair.

He closes his eyes again, and, smiling slightly, settles down against you.

“Thank you,” he mumbles, hugging you tightly for a moment then relaxing again.

You just smile and stroke his hair until he falls asleep again. You don’t know how long you stay there, and you don’t really care. All that really matters is that he’s happy.  


End file.
